I'll Be Home for Christmas

by Dawn Stewardson

  “Oh, well, I was only wondering about her last name—in case we have to double-check the apartment number.”

  “Mmm...it’s Becker, I think. Yeah, I’m sure. Like that sleazy lawyer who usta be on “L.A. Law,” you know?”

  * * *

  THEY WERE HALFWAY DOWN the second floor hall when Ali heard a faint rumbling noise.

  For a moment she didn’t realize what it was. Then she recognized it and her pulse began to race. The sounds from the subway trains definitely reached the second floor, and hearing them started her mind racing to conclusions...or was she jumping to conclusions again?

  Logan squeezed her hand. “Sounds just like our tape, doesn’t it? I guess it wasn’t the Doppler effect after all.”

  “You really think we’ve got it right this time? You think this is where they were keeping him?” That seemed obvious to her, but so many times already...

  “It makes perfect sense,” Logan said. “A perfect hiding place. Even if you had suspected Deloras long ago you wouldn’t have thought to check here. You didn’t even know she had a sister, did you?”

  Ali shook her head. “But even if Robbie was here... Logan, upstairs you said that wherever Deloras went, she must have taken Robbie with her. So even if he was here...”

  “Maybe she didn’t take him, though. When I said that, we didn’t know about the sister. And if he isn’t here...well, if he isn’t, the sister will know where he is.”

  Despite his words, Logan didn’t sound nearly as confident as he had earlier, and by the time they reached 207, Ali was practically shaking. She pressed her back against the wall beside the door, grateful for its support. From inside, the faint sounds of a television were audible. Somebody was in the apartment. But was Robbie there or not?

  “Don’t forget that neighbor wasn’t sure about the number,” Logan whispered, putting his sunglasses back on and adjusting his scarf over his face again. “If this isn’t it, we’ll have to go back down to the main floor and check the directory.”

  Logan knocked...and a moment later whispered, “Someone’s coming.”

  Ali’s breath caught in her throat. She was afraid even to hope, and yet...

  “Yes?” a woman’s voice said from inside.

  “Courier,” Logan said. “Delivery for Julie Becker.”

  “Open it,” a second voice called, “it must be something from Bob. Finally, he deigns to let me know what the hell’s going on. And only six hours late.”

  It was Deloras’s voice! Ali was certain it was, and her heart began to pound.

  She listened while someone slid the chain.

  Then the door cracked open and Logan slammed it against the wall, shouldering his way in.

  Ali followed him into the entrance hall, but stopped short as a shiver of terror raced through her. For the second time in one day a woman was pointing a gun at them. This time it was Deloras, standing not six feet away.

  The woman who’d answered the door was pressing herself into the wall. In the living room, beyond Deloras, Ali could see two suitcases. But Robbie was nowhere in sight.

  “Where’s Robbie?” she whispered, almost too afraid to ask. “Deloras, where’s my son?”

  “What the hell’s going on?” she demanded. “Did Bob tell you Robbie was here?”

  “I told you not to trust him,” the other woman muttered. “Didn’t I say he’d pull something like this? Leave you high and dry?”

  “Shut up, Julie,” Deloras snapped, waving the gun for emphasis. “Why don’t you go check on things in the bedroom?”

  Julie scurried off and Ali followed with her eyes, her pulse racing crazily. Robbie had to be in that bedroom, only a few yards away, but—

  “That’s it, isn’t it?” Deloras demanded. “Bob told you to come here and get Robbie, didn’t he?”

  Ali didn’t know how to answer. What would happen if she told Deloras that Bob was dead? Would she get hysterical? With a gun in her hand?

  “That’s it, isn’t it?” she asked again. “He took off without me, didn’t he? After I even grabbed the damned kid for him. And did everything else, too, ‘cuz Bob didn’t want to see him.”

  “You took Robbie?” Ali whispered.

  Deloras gave a derisive snort. “You didn’t street-proof him too well, did you? I just said there was an extra present for him and he went with me.”

  “Look,” Logan said, “let’s cut to the chase, huh? Bob’s left you in the lurch, so just let us have Robbie and—”

  “Uh-uh,” Deloras said, waving her gun again. “Maybe Bob thinks he pulled a fast one, but he’s got a surprise coming. That two million bucks,” she said to Ali. “I want you to phone your broker right now and change the plans. Tell him you don’t want it transferred to Switzerland after all. Tell him you want it right in your hot little hands on Friday. Then we’ll talk about you getting Robbie back.

  “I said right now,” she snapped when Ali didn’t move. “There’s a phone in the living room. You, too,” she added to Logan.

  Feeling as if she was in the midst of an endless nightmare, Ali began to move forward.

  Logan started after her, praying for a chance at Deloras, but she was carefully keeping her distance.

  Then, just as he and Ali reached the side hall, the bedroom door burst open and Robbie barreled out.

  “Mommy!” he shouted, streaking toward her.

  “Get back here,” Julie screamed from behind him.

  Deloras’s gaze flickered to them.

  Logan saw his chance and dove at her.

  When he tackled her they both hit the floor and the gun went flying, but she scratched at his eyes and bit his hand so hard he let go of her. She scooted after the gun on her hands and knees and he barely managed to knock it away. Then she was on her feet again, and when he grabbed her wrists she tried to knee him in the groin. He wrestled her to the floor and finally managed to pin her.

  “Damn you,” she cursed beneath him, squirming with all her might. She wasn’t strong enough to get away, though, and Logan quickly glanced over to where he’d last seen the gun, hoping Julie hadn’t grabbed it.

  She hadn’t. It was still lying by a chair, and Julie was just standing in the hall, staring at them. Deciding she wouldn’t be causing trouble, Logan looked at Ali. She was on her knees, holding Robbie in her arms, and seeing them together again made him feel so good he couldn’t help smiling.

  Ali gazed over Robbie’s head at Logan, knowing that she’d never be able to thank him enough, knowing she’d never feel more relieved than she felt right now. She’d been so afraid she’d never hold Robbie again that he seemed like a miracle in her arms.

  “Mommy, I’m so glad you finally came,” he whispered.

  She patted his back, wishing she could erase the past few days from his life. “I’m sorry it took so long,” she murmured. “But are you all right?”

  When he nodded she simply continued hugging him, loving his sturdy little-boyness. He felt so wonderful against her that she was never going to let him go.

  * * *

  LOGAN SAT at Ali’s kitchen table, thinking what a long evening it had been. Hallop and Mitropoulos had taken forever getting their statements, but at least they’d been fast about catching up with Sinclair and Gonzalez. And at least they’d called to let Ali know the two were in custody.

  As far as Robbie was concerned, he’d been examined by an entire medical team and pronounced physically unharmed.

  Emotionally, too, he seemed great—remarkably unaffected by what had happened. But Ali had wanted advice from an expert she had faith in, so as soon as she’d tucked him into bed she’d called one of her professors, who was also the chief of psychology at the Toronto Children’s Hospital.

  Logan glanced over at her, standing by the counter with the phone in her hand, and decided that whatever the guy was telling her had to be good news. For the first time in days, she didn’t look stressed out. What she looked was beautiful. So damned beautiful it hurt. How could he possibly go off
to L.A. without her?

  He couldn’t. So he was going to have to convince her to go with him. They couldn’t possibly be living thousands of miles apart when they were perfect together.

  Hell, they were even good together as detectives. Bob’s plan had turned out to be exactly what they’d figured. The wild-goose chase to Muskoka had been set up so Julie could take Robbie home, with no one there to see her, while Bob and Deloras were taking off for parts unknown.

  But, of course, Bob’s plan had run into a major hitch. And when he hadn’t called Deloras in the morning to confirm that he’d cleaned out the safety deposit box and was ready to meet her, she’d kept Robbie where he was. Logan absently reached for the last chocolate chip cookie, then looked over at Ali once more.

  “Well, thank you so much,” she was saying. “Yes...yes, I’ll have the best Christmas ever. You, too.”

  “So?” he asked as she hung up.

  She leaned back against the counter and shrugged, but it was a happy, smiling shrug. “He said the aftereffects of an experience like this can really vary, and he thought Robbie sounded like one of the lucky ones.

  “He’s offered to see him after Christmas, but he figures all I’ll have to do is make sure his life gets back to normal—keep everything as stable as possible for the next few months.”

  “Sounds like sensible advice,” Logan said. It sounded like a death knell, though, to the idea of Ali packing up and heading to L.A. with him. That sure wouldn’t be keeping things stable. He pushed himself away from the table and paced unhappily across the room.

  “You’ll go pick up Cody in the morning?” she asked.

  He nodded. “First thing. Then do you want me to bring him over here—help start getting things back to normal?”

  “That would be great. I could make lunch...bake some more cookies,” she added, glancing at the empty plate. “Oh, Logan, I’m just so happy to have him home.”

  “I know.” He draped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Her nearness was instantly arousing, but he tried to ignore the message his body was sending.

  Last night, he’d been in her bed. But part of getting things back to normal meant separate beds again...separate houses. And soon, separate countries.

  Doing his best not to think about that, he kissed her. She tasted sweeter than chocolate chips and smelled so enticing that his body’s message was getting more urgent by the second. He wanted to spend the entire night making love to her. But that was impossible tonight, with Robbie just down the hall.

  “I love you,” he finally whispered.

  “Oh, Logan, I love you, too.”

  But what the hell, he wondered, were they going to do about it?

  * * *

  ALI TOOK HER BATCH of cookies from the oven, absently listening to the little-boy noises drifting down from Robbie’s bedroom. For all her fears that he might have been traumatized by the kidnapping, so far there’d been no sign of any negative effects. He’d slept soundly through the night, and now he and Cody were right back into the swing of things.

  They’d even invented a new game that involved impersonating Santa’s reindeer—all of them at once, from the sounds of it. She smiled to herself. Then she glanced over to where Logan was standing at the window and her smile faded.

  She was so very happy, yet just looking at him made her begin thinking thoughts that marred her happiness. She had her son back, but in only a few weeks she was going to lose Logan.

  Already, he seemed distant. He hadn’t kissed her good morning when he’d arrived, and even though she’d told herself it was because the boys had been right there, she knew something was bothering him.

  Instead of sitting down and making himself at home, he’d been wandering uneasily around the kitchen, as if he had something to say but wasn’t sure how to put it. And she had a horrible suspicion she knew what it was.

  He, too, had to be thinking about how soon he’d be leaving. And even though he’d told her they’d somehow work things out...

  But he’d said that in the warmth of her bed. And cold reality had a way of making that sort of promise seem foolish.

  If she lost him, though...she loved him so much, how could she bear to lose him?

  “Ali?” he said quietly, drawing her attention back to the moment.

  Waiting for him to go on, she couldn’t help thinking he was the absolute ideal man for her. But he was going to slip through her fingers like quicksilver, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to prevent it.

  “There’s something I have to tell you,” he said.

  She nodded, afraid her voice would betray her if she spoke, knowing he was going to tell her that the promise he’d made in the heat of passion—

  “I’m not going to L.A.”

  She just stared at him, not certain she’d heard him right.

  “I called my agent before Cody and I came over—explained that circumstances had changed and I just couldn’t leave Toronto right now.”

  “But...but you said it’s the chance of a lifetime...your chance to be rich and famous.”

  He shrugged. “There might be some way of working things out. Phones, faxes, the whole superinformation highway. And if we can’t do things long-distance...well, there are more important things than being rich and famous...don’t you think?”

  “Oh, Logan,” she whispered.

  He took a step toward her and she flung herself into his arms, so happy she was crying.

  “Hey!” a thin little voice said behind them. “What are you two doing? Look at them, Cody. They’re hugging. Yuuuuckkk!”

  “Yuuuuckkk!” Cody repeated. “Hey, Dad, guess what?”

  “What?” Logan released Ali, but kept one arm firmly around her waist.

  “Me an’ Robbie decided we’re gonna be blood brothers. So we gotta cut our thumbs and moosh the blood together, okay? ‘Cuz that’s the way you gotta do it.”

  “Oh?” Logan smiled at Ali. “I think there might be a less painful way for them to be brothers, don’t you? If it wouldn’t be making things unstable.”

  “I don’t think it would be making things unstable at all,” she murmured.

  Logan’s smile grew. Then he put both arms around her again and kissed her.

  “Yuuuuckkk!” two little voices chorused.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-8362-6

  I’ll Be Home for Christmas

  Copyright © 1994 by Dawn Stewardson

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